The invention relates to a brace or pipe clamp with a deformable, essentially cylindrical housing which has at least one longitudinal slot, wherein the regions of the housing that are situated opposite one another at the longitudinal slot are formed as bent over lugs, wherein the lugs are formed for accommodating hollow bolts and wherein the brace or pipe clamp can be clamped by means of clamping bolts, which penetrate the hollow bolts transversely and are arranged approximately tangentially to the housing, and nuts in the hollow bolts which can be connected to said clamping bolts.
Brace or pipe clamps are used on the one hand for connecting or repairing pipes which have started to leak and on the other hand for the fixation of piping in buildings or vehicles. In the first case, seals in the form of sleeves or the like which are pressed against the outer surface of the pipes by the brace or pipe clamp are used to seal the pipe joints or leaks. The bracing of such brace or pipe clamps is however very expensive and requires the use of special tools or devices which are for example formed as what is known as a collet. The time required for the method used to date can also be considerable, in particular when relatively large differences in diameter need to be bridged during bracing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,409,576 discloses a pipe clamp for exhaust systems. This has a clamping bolt and a stirrup-shaped spring element which is pivotably connected to the bolt. The spring element is part of the closure and is used to compensate the expansion of components as a result of changes in temperature. In order to brace the pipe clamp, the spring element is hung on a hook of the closure and then pretensioned to a defined value by means of the clamping bolt. The spring element is therefore permanently subjected to pretensioning and cannot move freely.
FR 2 749 917 discloses a pipe clamp with clamping bolts which can be braced by nuts. A cam lever is connected pivotably with the clamping bolts at the head end of the clamping bolts. The cam lever is used to open and close the pipe clamp rapidly. In the braced state the pipe clamp transfers the tensioning force to the cam lever and can only be brought into the unbraced position by overcoming a defined resistance.